


Inevitable

by voksen



Series: Companion!Maxverse [2]
Category: Tangled (2010), Valdemar Series - Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crossover, Gen, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-26
Updated: 2012-12-26
Packaged: 2017-11-22 12:39:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/609894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voksen/pseuds/voksen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some things just never go as planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inevitable

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gray_Cardinal/gifts), [isabeau](https://archiveofourown.org/users/isabeau/gifts).



A few months later, Max is still in that horrible limbo of having Chosen but not completed it. Being near Rapunzel is like a physical ache sometimes, the song of her soul calling to his almost impossible to resist - but he holds out with grim determination, sticking by her side until it causes issues in his scheduling with the Guard.

His responsibility is to his Chosen - he still thinks of her as that, to himself, prodding his own insecurities and self-doubts on purpose - but, of course, he doesn't have the _mouth_ to tell them that. (Even if he had Chosen, Rapunzel has so little mindspeech that he's not sure he could tell her what he means and have her pass it on, either.)

Mortifyingly enough, it's Flynn (Eugene?) who figures it out and argues for him, using nearly the same arguments (though not the same words) that Max would have, and the eventual result is that Max is assigned as Rapunzel's official bodyguard, which after a few days of scandal seems to make everyone more or less happy.

So it's Max that Rapunzel's riding on when she goes out ostensibly alone into the country to get to know her people, and it's a sweet agony, trotting along with the chime of hooves but without bells, his tack brown instead of blue-and-silver, her on his back but not _with_ him. And it's Max who's there when they stumble across a curious house in the woods, made of _dough_ of all things, which seems to Max to be a dreadfully inconvenient and untraditional building material.

And it's Max who, with his minor Companion's mage-gift, senses the blood magic on the sweet old lady who answers the door and asks Rapunzel (who still loves and trusts everyone with her great heart) to step inside and have a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Rapunzel dismounts a bit clumsily and heads for the door; Max swings in front of her, nostrils flared, eyes wide, stamping his hooves, trying his best to warn her without actually doing any harm to the mage, because Gods only know what would happen then.

"Max, no!" she says, "Bad horse. I'm so sorry, Granny, just let me..." and she grabs his reins and swings his head down to look him in the eye, clearly about to give him the scolding of a lifetime.

They can always hear you in the moment when your soul binds to theirs, even if they never do afterwards, he thinks despairingly.

_:Rapunzel, I Choose you. She wants to hurt you! **Get on, now!** :_


End file.
